A Doll of Hope

Final

The next morning, Greta woke up late and climbed down the stairs in Matt's childhood home.

"Good morning, everyone." She stated as she rubbed her eyes. To her surprise, there was just Casandra, Mitch, and Kristin at the table.

"Good morning, Greta dear." Casandra stated.

"How did you sleep?" Mitch asked.

"Like a rock. Where are the others?"

"Bethany and RJ said they wanted to take a walk around the neighborhood. Sandra took Benjiro to the fields to show him the patches of Lavender." Casandra stated.

"And Matt and Christie?" Casandra and Mitch looked at each other and smiled.

"Matt said he was going to take her somewhere special today." Mitch stated. Greta formed a confused look on her face.

"Where?" The grownups just looked at each other and smiled. Meanwhile, Matt was driving Christie through the country side in his dad's truck. Christie was loving the scenery, but was wondering where they were going. The whole time, Matt didn't say a word as he just stared at the road. Finally, they came to a stop on the side of the road. Matt and Christie got out of the car. Walking over to Matt's side, she spotted a staircase which had a little building on top.

"What's that? A shop?" She asked.

"Not exactly, you'll see when we get up there." Matt reached for her hand and they started climbing up the stairs. Climbing up the stairs, they passed by little patches of flowers. Christie couldn't help but reach out and pick a few. As they got to the top, Christie realized the building wasn't as big as she thought it would be. Without saying a word, Matt lead her around the back. Christie gasped when she saw lines of fancy columns all next to each other. Looking closely, she noticed they had people's names on them.

"Matt...this place...is it..."

"Yeah, it's a cemetery." He said quietly. Unsure what was going on, Christie let Matt lead her along the rows of columns. Just then, they came to a stop. Christie looked to see Matt staring at the column in front of him. He had a distant look on his face. Christie looked at the column and gasped. In the center, in big bold letters, it read Loyd. Christie felt a loss of breath for an instant.

"Matt...this..." Matt let out a sigh.

"Yeah." The two of them stared at the column.

"It's...been a long time." Matt finally said.

"Huh?"

"After the accident, I used to come here and just hang out all the time. Whenever people couldn't find me. This is where I would be. They told me they would always find me walking around in circles around this column. I would bend down when I got tired to rest for a minute. Then I would get back up and start walking again. Like I was thinking, that if I just waited long enough, he would come back." Matt let out a chuckle.

"You would think I would have known better. But...I just couldn't bring myself to let go so easily." He gripped her hand.

"I know it's not the most cheerful place to be, but...I really wanted you to see this. I really wanted you...to meet him." He said with a sad look on his face. Christie looked at his face. Even though it had been so long, she could tell that Matt still felt the deep pain of loosing his friend. She gripped his hand.

"I understand." Matt looked at her as she bent down close to the column. She carefully laid the flowers she picked earlier in the little pots formed in the column.

"Hello there, Loyd. My name is Christie. Though everyone calls me Chris. I've heard so much about you from Matt and am glad to get the chance to meet you." Matt looked at her face as she talked. She had a distant smile on.